Frame Drum School

I cannot convey how much I am enjoying Yousif Sheronick's Frame Drums 101. I would heartily recommend it to all of my students--and it's not just an undertaking for beginners.....Never mind that I've been playing frame drums for decades, there's lots in this course that can inspire me and help to me to create improved clarity of pulse, execution and sound production... In my opinion, this course is a documentation of the frame drum gharana as created by Glen Velez, but with one important addition: the added distillation of Yousif Sheronick's skilled interpretation and digestion. A big thank you, Yousif... John Marshall, Composer, Author, Performing/Teaching Artist, Director: Rhythmic Integration Center

Yousif not only offers a very comprehensive and culturally rich frame drum course, approaching the instrument beyond its role in percussion, but he also presents the material in a fun way that makes you want to keep on playing & practicing. I can't imagine a better introduction to learning to play the frame drum. Take this course, it'll change the way you approach the frame drum forever.

This was awesome!!!! I've been a music educator for 35 years. This kept me so engaged! I don't remember ever practicing with more passion! Everything about this course is superb!! Ten stars are inadequate!! Thank you for opening up this aspect of my musical life!! (I especially liked and used the call and response DAILY!!!)

As a professional percussionist with multiple degrees and 35 years of playing experience, I had zero expertise on the frame drum. I took lessons with Yousif for a year, but the icing on the cake was taking his online Frame Drum 101 which solidified everything that he had taught me during our time together. That being said, starting with this course is a perfect way to begin your studies on the instrument. The course is extremely well organized, sequential, and shows a relaxed, confident master teacher in his element. The call and response sections are invaluable, as are the ratio exercises. The course is a perfect combination of technique building and actual grooves & pieces. The grooves were my favorite! Learning technique is super important and allows facility on the instrument but you need to apply that technique, and the grooves are the perfect natural extension of the lessons. Being able to pause the videos, practice each section at my own pace, and then return to each lesson made it that much more useful, as well as thoroughly enjoyable. The PDF's are invaluable for mastering each section. Highly Recommended! James Allen

From start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed my time working through Yousif's frame drum course. I made so many connections to my percussion playing and especially my drum set playing (and compositions). I would often find myself taking the learned frame drum grooves and coming up will different ways to make drum set grooves. The ratios are immensely helpful and eye-opening - particularly for soloing and composing - and I cannot wait to truly solidify them. I was actually performing in an odd-meter-themed jazz combo this semester, so I applied much of the instruction towards that field of music. I also recorded myself performing all of the worksheet exercises - mainly for myself, but also if you wanted to see a progression of sorts. I kind of wanted to make one culmination video that shows progress from the first day to the last day. Constructive Criticism: Personally, I like to know how am I progressing when I am learning a new skill. In regards to fundamentals and technique, this is very important to me because I understand that developing bad techniques over time will result in negative repercussions. In addition, it is typically more difficult to break old habits and then create new ones. That being said, I would have appreciated having some form of progression check along the way. I do not know how feasible this would be on the instructor or student side given the online situation, but having it would make me feel more secure about my learning process. Overall, I found the lessons to be presented well. Yousif is repetitive and clear with the music patterns and instructions. The lessons were presented in a way that I believe does work for people of various skill levels (I am a percussionist, so that might be a little biased). If Yousif creates other types of lessons in the future, then I will definitely be looking into them!

I am so glad I took this course! I really like Yousif's teaching style... Very clear, easy to understand and follow yet challenging enough, well structured, great pace, time to practice and play along while reading the notes on the screen, great learning platform, and good quality videos. I learned so much in such a short amount of time... lap style, hand held style, different rhythms, techniques, vocalisations, and so much more! I loved the 'groove basket' too, which contains lots of different rhythms from all over the world. I recommend this course to everyone who wants to learn how to play the frame drum, or add new rhythms to their repertoire! - Nienke

From my point of view Yousif is not just a great musician -- if anything, he is an even better teacher. He communicates so much about the embodiment of the rhythm and this is a unique skill, uniquely presented and the material is received with a great deal of satisfaction, enjoyment ... and effectiveness!! Bravo!!!

The instructional videos are clear and concise. You can move at your own pace with the flexibility to either focus or move on. This course is enlightening, empowering, and plain fun!

I have been playing the frame drum occasionally for five years and would put myself at an intermediate level of playing. Even though the course is titled 101, there is a lot of material here for all levels to work with. I particularly liked having a progression of tecnhiques to work with, and playing along with the videos is also very helpful. I am hoping there is a 201 class in the works!

Perfect collection of videos for the absolute beginner and the intermediate player who just want to re-learn a couple of things, discover new rhythms and polish his/her technique. The groove basket section just opens up a lot of possibility and ideas which I personally found amazing. Thanks Yousif!

Great course that offers a slower pace for the beginner while also offering more advanced ideas for more experienced players. Well worth it!